After scoring touchdowns on its first three possessions, the lights went out on the Central College football team Saturday night, as Monmouth College rallied for a 28-21 victory.
The Dutch (1-1) raced to a 21-7 lead at the break, but Monmouth rolled up 292 yards of offense in the second half. Meanwhile, Central mustered just two second-half first downs.
That spoiled another big night for running back Josh Osborn (senior, Burlington), who topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the second straight week, gaining 107 yards on 24 carries. He also caught three passes for 22 yards.
But Central was still without quarterback Aaron Eiseler (senior, Mesa, Ariz., Red Mountain HS), who was injured in the first quarter of last week's 31-7 win at Benedictine (Ill.). The Dutch used three signal-callers in his place, primarily Noah Stochl (sophomore, New Hampton), who completed 12 of 21 passes for 125 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in his starting debut.
Brendon Boerm (senior, Traer, North Tama HS) also took some snaps, gaining 20 yards rushing on three carries while completing one pass for six yards. He caught three passes for 53 yards and a TD as well.
Monmouth's backs ran wild in the second half. Michael Buehne finished with a game-high 152 yards on 21 carries while Trent Rains ran for 140 yards on 25 attempts. Monmouth rolled up 314 rushing yards on the night and 461 yards overall to Central's 272.
Central burst out of the gate, driving 76 yards in 13 plays, with Stochl hitting tight end Mitchell Boerm (sophomore, Traer, North Tama HS) on a 17-yard TD strike.
A blocked punt by linebacker Drew Carlson (sophomore, Ankeny) put the Dutch in business at the Monmouth 10-yard line. One play later, Stochl found Boerm for another TD from 3 yards out.
Monmouth answered on a 15-play, 71-yard TD drive, but Central came back with a 15-play, 86-yard march. Stochl muscled his way into the end zone on fourth-and-1 and it was 21-7 at the break.
"We just executed well," coach Jeff McMartin said of the first half. "We had a good game plan and took advantage of some things. We had a nice balance between the run and the pass. We were eight-of-11 (passing) which is very efficient, we ran the ball 24 times, which is what we want to do, and we got first downs.
"But in the second half we did none of those things."
Monmouth did. After stalling on the first second-half drive, the Scots running game kicked into high gear, powering their way to the Central 4. A first-down fumble recovered by freshman defensive lineman Corbin Blythe (Williamsburg) appeared to give Central a lift, but the Dutch were three-and-out and on Monmouth's next play from scrimmage, quarterback Tanner Matlick fired a 39-yard TD pass to C.J. Shields.
Monmouth needed just four plays to score again, ending the fourth quarter still trailing 21-19 only because of a couple of failed conversion tries. And an interception led to a third straight touchdown, followed by a 20-yard field goal with 8:36 left that completed the scoring.
"We just didn't make plays," McMartin said. "Penalties hurt us, turnovers hurt us. We didn't execute the way we're capable of."
Field position told part of the tale as well. Monmouth's average field position in the first half was its own 23-yard line. In the second half it was at midfield.
"We put our defense out there in a lot of bad spots," McMartin said. "We had some tough field position. But we've also got to stop people on third down and we didn't do a great job of that as the game wore on.
"Monmouth had great field position in the second half. Early on, we had them backed up. We couldn't get the first downs we needed to make them drive the length of the field."
Central's defense got 14-tackle efforts from defensive lineman Brody Janssen (senior, Quincy, Ill.) and linebacker Jessie Peterson (sophomore, Coralville, Iowa City West HS). Blythe had nine stops, including 1.5 for loss and linebacker Jaemin Powell (junior, Wellman, Mid-Prairie HS) had eight tackles and a pass breakup. Cornerback Eric Larson (senior, Waverly, Waverly-Shell Rock HS) had an interception in the end zone to end a late first-half Monmouth threat.
Central remains at home next Saturday, returning to its customary 1 p.m. start time for a first-ever meeting with Maranatha Baptist (Wis.). The Sabrecats are 0-2 after getting routed at Lawrence (Wis.) 59-0.
"We just have to keep our heads up, learn from this and continue to work on improving," McMartin said. "It's a long season and we've got a lot of opportunities in front of us. We've got to keep getting better."